News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-09-29
Massachusetts Shame.

Massachusetts mas long arrOgated
to herself the premier place in the
Union, in matters Of reform, govern
ment, and the intelligence and morali-
ty that 90 to make prosperous COM
monwealth. She is wont to assume
that, but for her shoulder at the
wheel, progress would have staid
The GOODNESS, as well as the magni-
tude, of her assumption is marvellous.
True, Massachusetts, is to be found at
the end of the line of progress, but,
unfortunately, it is often at the wrong
one.
Let us analyze her claim as regards
her attitude toward the medical pro-
fession. Many other States have, BY
legislation, restricted the practice of
medicine 10 those who, by education
and character, are fitted for the task :;
and have thus protected their people
from the parasite, the quack, who
feasts and fattens on the credulity of
man wherever he is permitted to do
so. The illiberality which Massachu-
sets has shown in this matter is SIM
ply disgraceful.
Any man, DO matter how ignorant,
has an equal right with the college
graduate to practice as physician in
this State. Nuldoon, the hostler,
can leave his honest employment to-
day, and tomorrow hang out his sign
as DR.. Muldoon. His experience in
medicine may be confined to the adj
ministration of "condition powders"
or to the application of liniment.
His knowledge Of dietetics may be
limited to the preparation of a "bran
mash" but absolute ignorance of all
which pertains to health and disease
is for him but trifing defect. If he is
what is called 'cute" he will soon find
fools enough to believe in his preten-
sions, and the more transparent the
fraud the more rapidly will his VIC
tins multiply. Some Of his patients
will get well, that is, if he has sense
enough to merely confne his treat
ment to an occasional dose of SIENNA,
or some similar, simple domestic rem
edy, which, of course, will need to be
disguised. The recoveries will sup
ply him with testimonials, and some
of those cases in which the patients
die in consequence of his ignorance
and maltreatment, will also furnish
him with capital. He will want to
tell his friends that he was called too
late, that if he could only have seen
him before the other doctor had poi
soned him with his medicines, the pa
tient would have recovered. All this,
as rule, will be believed, and thus a
life sacrificed occasionally by him
will prove to his advantage. A home
may be made desolate, a wife left to
struggle on in poverty, and decreed to
toll for years to maintain her little
ones, made fatherless by this man,
this sel-appointed doctor, but that
gives him no concern. In not one in
a thousand such cases, if he is cum
ming, can he be proved responsible and
made guilty in the eyes of the law,
and so there is no punishment for him
but what is administered by his own
conscience, and that, in quacks, is
not likely to create even a momentary
feeling Of uneasiness.
Massachusetts has been rightly
called sewer, into which are emp
tied the waste and filth of every other
State in the Union; and it is also ev-
ident that the outlook is INSTRUCTED.
Over SIX hundred medical quacks are
registered in the Boston directory,
and there are as many more, if not a
greater number, who less openly ply
their trade of quilting the public. Some
steal the mantle of religion, others
exhibit themselves as philanthropists,
while vet others pretend to have been
divinely endowed with special powers,
and decreed to 60 about doing good,
provided they are well paid for it.
These imposters assume many guises,
but ''call himself by what name he
will, quack is still a quack, and
even if the prince of darkness should
assume the garb of heavenly inno-
cence, the cloven foot would still be-
tray the real parsonage"
Yes! A diploma is entirely unnec-
essary, if man intends to practice
here in Massachusetts. Nor
is it absolutely essential that he is
able to read and write. OF course
these qualifications he will find of as
sistance; still they can be dispen sed
with. AS for medical knowledge, that
is superfuous. He does not need to
see an organ in the body, either in a
healthy or diseased state; it is quite
for him to know on which
side the heart is; all these little things
he can guess at. A knowledge of
drugs is also useless in fact, the less
he knows about them the better.
There are thoroughwort, dandclion,
SIENNA, and few other simple ''yarbs"
which his mother used on him in
and which he remembers
all about; those he can steep, mix
and give seductive names to, and they
will be all sufficient. A little whiskey
or ginger will change the taste, so he
can serve up the mixture in different
ways, and as entirely distinct prepare
tons.
Now, man practicing medicine in
no matter if he is the
biggest ignoramus in the State, can
find fools enough to gull and ought to
ioI, l,a h.
able to lie; without that qualification
be never can succeed. If he is care
full to put up his own mixtures and
has sense enough to let powerful
drugs alone, he can practice medicine
in this State until his father, the evil
one, calls him home. There is no
law in this pious commonwealth to
prevent his doing so. The people
may die as a consequence of his neg
lect; they may even die as the result
Of his maltreatment but, if he is
only reasonably cunning he will es-
cape punishment. The State of Mas
invites him to take the
chances. She welcomes him as a
physician recognizes his title, and
it makes no difference to her if he did
steal it and practically she says, here
is wide field for your vile work, now
make the best of it. She does not
take into consideration that within
her borders there are many poor men,
and children, ignorant, posi-
bly,, through no fault of their own,
VIII ON she is bound by all divine laws